Ephesians

Ephesians - Chapter 1-2

Welcome, I have written this for children, based solely on the Word of God, but condensed for them... and used Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary for clarification of some words. My added comments are in italics, and there is a Memory Verse for each chapter. This is a very difficult book, but I pray it will be a blessing to them...

Chapter 1

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.. (saints are the believers in Jesus at the church in the city of Ephesus that lived in the time of Paul the apostle.) Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ because he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, (the bible clearly teaches that God chooses some to be saved, because left to themselves, all would be lost) so we should be holy (in our heart) and without blame before him because he loves us. He has predestinated us (chosen us before the world was formed to be saved) and has made us accepted in the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God's grace to us. (redemption means that we were lost sinners but the Lord Jesus Christ paid the penalty of our sins on the cross, and shed his precious blood for us, so that when we believe the gospel, and receive the Lord Jesus as our Savour, our sins are forgiven because of God's grace. Sins are things we do that we now we should not do, and things we don't do that we know we should do. Grace means that God gives us what we don't deserve, which is that our sins are forgiven when we receive Jesus.)

God has made known to us the mystery of his will, that is, in the fullness of God's time, he will gather together all things that are in Christ, which are in heaven, and which are on earth. (that means all the people who have died, believing in the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, their souls are in heaven now, and also people who have received the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, who are still alive when Jesus comes again, their bodies will be changed to be like his, and all these people will be brought to be with Jesus where he is.) In whom we

We first trusted in Christ (Jesus) after hearing the gospel, and then we believed, and then we were sealed with the Holy Spirit (that means the Holy Spirit came to dwell with us and in us at the moment we were saved) and so it sealed us in Christ. (sealed means that we belong to Jesus) And the Holy Spirit will be with us until our redemption.

After I (the apostle Paul) heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love to all the saints, I do not stop giving thanks for you, and talk of you in my prayers, so that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you wisdom and knowledge of him, Paul prays that the eyes of our understanding may be opened (that means that we will understand in our hearts) the hope (that we belong to Christ), and what is God's great power because he raised up Christ from the dead, far above all things on the earth, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And now God has put all things under (Christ's) feet, and Christ is head over all things. The church (all believers) is the body of Christ, the fulness of him...

Memory Verse: Ephesians 1:7 "in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to God's grace to us."

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Chapter 2

Once we were dead in sin, once we walked in the ways of the world, in the ways of the evil one that even now works in those who do not know Jesus. (called the children of disobedience) And we also lived according to the desires of our bodies and of our thoughts. But God who is rich in mercy loved us so very much, that even though we were living in our sins, by God's grace, he saved us in Christ. (by grace you are saved) And he raisedus up together, and made us sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (this is spiritually he raised us up.. because of what Jesus did for us, God sees us as saved people through the blood of Christ) So that in the ages to come he will show the great riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus (we could have been born in our sin, lived our lives in sin, and died in sin, but God gave his only begotten Son the Lord Jesus to be our redemption, the perfect sacrifice for our sins)

By grace we are saved through faith, and this not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works so that any man could boast (that he earned his own salvation)

We are God's workmanship, God has created us in Christ Jesus to do good works (the things that God has prepared us to do, not things that we desire to do for ourselves). God before established that we should walk in these good works. So remember that before you were saved you had no hope, and were without God in the world. But now you who were far away, are made near (to God) by the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, who has made both Jew and Gentile (all other men) in one, so both are brought together to God by the cross. Through Christ we both (Jews and Gentiles, all other men) come by the same Spirit to the Father (because we have believed the gospel and have the Spirit within us and with us)

The prophets and the apostles laid the foundation (that means the prophets told of the redeemer to come, and apostles told that the redeemer (Christ) had come) Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, and all the building grows into a holy temple in the Lord. (that means all believers past, present and future will form the one holy temple, also called the body of Christ)

Memory Verses: Ephesians 2:8-9 "By grace we are saved through faith, and this not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works so that any man could boast"

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V. Gross/April'04